My U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,433, granted Sept. 20, 1966, discloses a machine for severing steel tubing and the like wherein an objective is the minimization of denting and deforming the tube as a result of the severing operation. The machine disclosed in my patent comprises a set of complemental die jaws which may be closed to clamp and hold the workpiece, a pair of slotting blades which travel in parallel across the tubing to cut shallow notches in the top and bottom tube walls, and a severing blade which descends vertically through the die jaw set to cut the tubing at the slotted location. The slotting of the tube walls in the plane of the severing knife minimizes the tendency of the severing knife to deform the tube. Thus, although the apparatus for performing the slotting operation results in added cost and complexity in the tube cutoff machine, the slotting eliminates the need for treatment of the tube ends for shape restoration purposes.